Zara Steiner, (''née'' Shakow; 6 November 1928 – 13 February 2020) was an American-born British historian and academic. Born in New York City, she was the daughter of Frances (née Price) and Joseph Shakow.) Her father was an outfitter who provided equipment to polar explorers, and her mother was a homemaker. Shakow was a 1948 graduate of Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania and gained bachelor's and master's degrees from the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

in 1950 (in two years, rather than three) and 1954 respectively. Tutored by both AJP Taylor and Isaiah Berlin, she asked the former to be her doctoral supervisor, but Taylor disapproved of the PhD, which he did not consider worthwhile. She received her doctorate in History from Harvard in 1957. Steiner specialised in

foreign relations A state's foreign policy or external policy (as opposed to internal or domestic policy) is its objectives and activities in relation to its interactions with other states, unions, and other political entities, whether bilaterally or through m ...

international relations International relations (IR), sometimes referred to as international studies and international affairs, is the scientific study of interactions between sovereign states. In a broader sense, it concerns all activities between states—such a ...

and 20th-century

history of Europe The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD 500), the Middle Ages (AD 500 to AD 1500), and the modern era (since AD 1500). The first ea ...

and of the United States.

Richard J. Evans Sir Richard John Evans (born 29 September 1947) is a British historian of 19th- and 20th-century Europe with a focus on Germany. He is the author of eighteen books, including his three-volume ''The Third Reich Trilogy'' (2003–2008). Evans was ...

described her two volumes in the Oxford History of Modern Europe (''The Lights That Failed'' and ''The Triumph of the Dark'') as the "standard works" on international diplomacy between both world wars. From 1968 to 1995, Steiner was a

Fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

of New Hall (now Murray Edwards College) of the

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...

. In 2007, she was elected a Fellow of the British Academy (FBA), the UK's

national academy A national academy is an organizational body, usually operating with State (polity), state financial support and approval, that co-ordinates scholarly research activities and standards for academic disciplines, most frequently in the sciences but ...

for the humanities and the social sciences. She married the literary critic and scholar

George Steiner Francis George Steiner, FBA (April 23, 1929 – February 3, 2020) was a Franco-American literary critic, essayist, philosopher, novelist, and educator. He wrote extensively about the relationship between language, literature and society, and the ...

in 1955. He predeceased her by ten days. The couple were introduced by their respective Harvard professors who knew both of them.

Selected works

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Steiner, Zara 1928 births 2020 deaths 21st-century American historians American women historians British historians British Jews British women historians Historians of Europe Historians of the United States Jewish American historians Fellows of Murray Edwards College, Cambridge Fellows of the British Academy Place of birth missing 21st-century British women writers Swarthmore College alumni Alumni of the University of Oxford Harvard University alumni American emigrants to the United Kingdom 21st-century American women 21st-century American Jews